Albert Arnold Gore, Jr., more commonly known as Al Gore, was the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under former President William “Bill” Clinton. While many know Al Gore for the 24 years he spent as an elected official, today he is more known for his work as an environmental activist. Al Gore has founded a number of non-governmental organizations based around the environment, and created the 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth about the affects of global warming. For all his efforts, Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an activist regarding climate change.

1 ) Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers Climate Solutions Group. Al Gore heads the climate solutions group at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers (KPCB), a premier venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley, California. The Wall Street Journal has listed it as the “largest and most established” firm in the globe. KPCB has been championing investment into the clean technology sector since 1999 and has actively invested in a number of ventures that have the potential to solve a variety of urgent challenges associated with the global climate crisis. The focus includes funding technologies that are related to renewable energy, clean water, sustainable agriculture, and next-generation transportation.

2 ) Al Gore Endorses a Green Bank Bill. In 2009, when testifying right before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Al Gore endorsed a new Green Bank Bill. First introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), this bill would create a financial institution that is government-owned and would provide necessary support to qualified energy efficiency and clean energy projects.

3 ) Call to have all Energy in the United States made Renewable in Ten Years. In 2008, Al Gore decided to make the challenge to the United States to get the country to make a switch to completely renewable sources of energy in ten years time. He made the mention that the solution to the current climate crisis will also help in renewing the economy through the creation of more jobs, and it will provide an escape route for the United States when it comes to continually rising energy prices.

4 ) Global Marshall Plan. Al Gore created the Global Marshall Plan in his book “Earth in the Balance,” and provides specific ideas regarding how to save the current global environment. In his book, Gore states, “The model of the Marshall Plan can be of great help. For example, a Global Marshall Plan must focus on strategic goals and emphasize actions and programs that are likely to remove the bottlenecks presently inhibiting the healthy functioning of the global economy. The new global economy must be an inclusive system that does not leave entire regions behind. The new plan will require the wealthy nations to allocate money for transferring environmentally helpful technologies to the Third World and to help impoverished nations achieve a stable population and a new pattern of sustainable economic progress. To work, however, any such effort will also require wealthy nations to make a transition themselves that will be in some ways more wrenching than that of the Third World.” There are five strategic goals, stabilizing the global population, the quick development of technologies that are environmentally appropriate, a change in economic rules of the road in respect to the environment, new international agreements regarding the environment, and a plan to educate the world about the environment.

5 ) Supporter of the Kyoto Protocol. Al Gore has been a huge supported of the Kyoto Protocol. This protocol was formed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is geared toward fighting the increase in global warming. This international environmental treaty has the goal of stabilizing the carbon dioxide emissions concentrations throughout the atmosphere to a level that would prevent the possibility of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the current climate system.

6 ) An Inconvenient Truth. An Inconvenient Truth is a book written by Al Gore in 2006. It is based on Gore’s lecture tour regarding the topic of global warming and further elaborates on a number of points regarding climate change. It was turned into a documentary film also in 2006 that followed Gore’s initiatives to educate the general public about climate change. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Both the book and the movie have been widely credited for increasing international public awareness in regards to the climate change and helped to reenergize the global environmental movement.

7 ) The Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition. The Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition is the very first and most prestigious clean technology and sustainably business plan competition in Asia. It was established in 2007 and looks to increase the generation of India’s engineering, technology, science, and management students to start thinking more sustainability and creating sustainable technology solutions that will provide a positive impact on the environment.

8 ) The Climate Reality Project. The Climate Reality Project was founded and chaired by Al Gore and currently has over five million members around the world. It is a nonprofit organization that remains dedicated to providing education to the global community in regards to the importance of the implementation of a comprehensive solution to the current climate crisis. The project emphasizes the requirement to bring together a very diverse range of organizations and individuals to strengthen the global network of people looking to take action when it comes to various climate issues.

9 ) Live Earth. Live Earth was established by Kevin Wall along with Al Gore and “built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action…Live Earth seeks to leverage the power of entertainment through integrated events, media, and the live experience to ignite a global movement aimed at solving the most critical environmental issues.” For example, on 07/07/07, Live Earth produced “Live Earth: the Concerts for a Climate in Crisis,” which was hosted on seven continents and broadcasted in 132 countries.

10 ) Generation Investment Management LLP. Generation Investment Management LLP is a private, independent owner-managed partnership that has offices in New York, New York, London, England, and Sydney Australia and focuses on environmental and social responsibility. It was co-founded in 2004 by Al Gore and David Blood. The mission of Generation Investment Management LLP is to “Deliver superior investment performance by taking a long term investment view and integrating sustainability research within a rigorous fundamental equity analysis framework; create long term client partnerships by delivering unique investment insights and exceptional client service; [and] attract, retain, and develop the best professionals within a passionate investment culture.”

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com.

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The number of U.S. adults concerned about global warming has reached a near-historic low, according to Gallup’s latest environmental poll.

Just 51 percent of respondents said they worry a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about climate change, down from 66 percent in 2008, a year after Al Gore and the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change received a Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the issue.

The 51 percent of Americans concerned about climate change is just a percentage point higher than the all-time low recorded in a 1997 poll. Only 49 percent of respondents believe that the effects of global warming are already being felt, down from about 60 percent three years ago. And 43 percent said they think the media exaggerates the seriousness of global warming, while 26 percent said the coverage is generally correct, and 29 percent said the media underestimates the seriousness.

While Gallup pollsters said the reasons for the decline are not obvious, they suggested the economic downturn is a possible factor.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Here’s a list of environmental stories which had high impact during the last decade.

This is is in no particular order admittedly subjective and seen from an American perspective.

Please tell us what we’ve missed and take a moment to vote in the poll.

• The environmental movement goes mainstream. This was the decade in which global warming became a household word and environmentalists were no longer viewed as tree-hugging-tofu-eaters. Major corporations now have “going green” programs in place, while terms like “greenwashing” and “carbon footprint” are commonly used.
• Prius Rising. The first commercially viable hybrid became part of the landscape, figuratively and literally.
• Al Gore becomes the face of a movement. This was arguably the most stunning resurrection of a 20th/21st century politician’s career. After winning the popular vote in the presidential election which launched the decade, only to lose the contest in a manner which will forever be hotly debated, Gore appeared to be destined for history’s asterisk bin. Then came “An Inconvenient Truth” and a Nobel Prize.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change establishes scientific consensus. The release of the IPCC report in 2007 determined that, yes, climate change is real and, yes, it’s caused by human activity.
• Extreme weather. The hottest decade on record also included some of the most deadly weather events on record. It’s not possible to say whether the rising temperatures contributed to any of these, but the deadly European heatwave of 2003, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina’s obliteration of New Orleans in 2005, and the 2008 series of killer hurricanes in Haiti were a few notable reminders of the potentially fatal power of nature.
• Climate change gets a price tag. Former World Bank vice president Sir Nicholas Stern released The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in 2006, which estimated the effects of climate change to have, at minimum, the cost of 5% of the world’s GDP. 
• You are what you eat. While obesity rates continue to skyrocket at alarming rates, even among children, (along with the associated health complications), organic foods have become very accessible in traditionally non-organic settings. It’s common for mainstream grocers to have their own organic labels and the price gap between organics and conventionals is rapidly closing.
• Climate change and American politics, the Bush presidency. This was the first time personnel from the oil industry directly occupied the White House. After campaigning in 2000 to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, one of the first acts of the Bush presidency was withdrawal of the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol. What followed was an eight year policy of environmental regression and unmasked disdain for science. Ironically, the tone-deaf response to Hurricane Katrina was one of the events that marked the very public unraveling of the Bush presidency.
• Climate change and American politics, the Obama presidency. Obviously, there are still chapters to be written as this president has been in office for less than a year, but after stocking his administration with the best and brightest scientific and pro-environmental minds, pushing huge green-stimulus funds and job creation programs, and giving the go-ahead to the EPA to regulate CO2, there is reason for hope that was absent during the preceding eight years.

Article by D. Snodgrass, appearing courtesy of Celsias

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If you feel like having a laugh, check out the latest Juice Media clip. In the lead-up to COP15 they have orchestrated a ‘rap battle’ between Al Gore and Lord Monckton, which makes for humorous watching…

Climate change may be no laughing matter, but clearly some people’s expertise (or lack of…) makes for comic material!

Article by Kate R. appearing courtesy of Celsias

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Al Gore hasn’t been resting on his laurels since An Inconvenient Truth. His substantial new book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis has grown out of the more than 30 lengthy and intensive “Solution Summits” he has organised to enable leading experts from round the world to share their knowledge and experience in subjects relevant to solving the crisis, as well as the one-on-one sessions he has had with others.

The expertise shows. The discussions of energy sources are focused and packed with useful information and judgments. Electricity from the sun is the first. Concentrated solar thermal (CST) power and photovoltaic power are both explained and evaluated. Each has a future, photovoltaics perhaps more so than currently recognised as it develops new chemical processes and fabrication technologies. Indeed some conclude that photovoltaics are near a threshold where they will have a cost advantage over CST and soon even over fossil fuel generation.

Wind harvesting in the US is not only the fastest-growing source of renewable energy but also the fastest-growing source of any form of energy, surpassing coal-fired, gas-fired and nuclear power plants combined. Geothermal energy is a vast resource, often misunderstood. It is not limited to natural sources of hot underground water. Gore explains the new and exciting possibilities of enhanced geothermal systems which tap into hot rock by drilling and then pumping pressurized water down to be heated, pumped up again, and used for generation before being returned for repeated processing.

Biomass fuel is canvassed. At this point he admits to the mistake of deriving ethanol from corn in which he participated when in office, but sees more promising possibilities in cellulosic fuels as well as in biomass use for electricity generation. Carbon capture and sequestration receives cautious attention, but its practicability is still uncertain. He thinks that a price put on carbon will allow market forces to work out whether the process is viable or not. Similarly the nuclear option is surveyed with some caution largely on grounds of its cost.

Deforestation produces an estimated 20 to 23 percent of annual global CO2 emissions as well as causing the extinction of species at an alarming level. The placing of a value on carbon will reveal the worth of tropical forests and the vital ecosystem services they perform. Gore quotes one expert on forest economics who considers that, worldwide, a $30 per ton price on CO2 would result in an 80% reduction in deforestation.  Meanwhile afforestation is proceeding in many places and he points up the significance of tree-planting programs such as those in China which achieved planting of 11.7 million acres of forests in 2008.

Carbon sequestration in soil, through better soil management practices, is recognized as holding considerable potential and discussed at length.  Stabilizing world population also receives attention and Gore notes Obama’s reversal of the previous US administration’s refusal to support many international fertility-management programs on grounds of their possible connection with providing access to legal abortions.

He is eloquent on energy efficiency improvements as by far and away the most cost-effective among the solutions to the climate crisis and capable of being implemented faster than any others. He provides numerous examples from this neglected field, including the sequential use of energy for two productive purposes in cogeneration, or combined heat and power systems.

Continent-wide unified smart grids are essential for the new patterns of generation. Gore has an illuminating chapter on the technologies now available for grid modernization, including storage opportunities and progress in the development of batteries. The management of intermittency in solar and wind power features in his discussion. The role of electric cars in doubling as a co-ordinated fleet of batteries to assist storage needs is explored.

From solutions Gore turns to obstacles. Climate change is an unprecedented mortal threat. We clearly have the means to avert it. Why are we still procrastinating? He recognises that massive changes in human behavior and thinking are involved, and that they are not easy to achieve. However in discussing the workings of the human brain he finds evidence that we can make decisions that take account of a long span of time and that once made they produce powerful commitments to change. Our ancestors were capable of common long-term goals as evidenced by medieval cathedrals which could take a century to complete.

Because there is not a price on carbon we are receiving flawed signals in the marketplace. This must be aggressively remedied to internalize the true environmental cost of coal and oil. Gore writes of “subprime carbon assets” which depend for their valuation on the belief that it’s perfectly okay to put millions of tons of CO2 into the earth’s atmosphere every 24 hours –- and on a zero price for carbon that reflects this assumption. His own preference is for a CO2 tax offset by equal reductions in other taxes, but he recognizes that the ascendance of market fundamentalism in the US has meant that only a cap and trade system is currently acceptable. Eventually he believes both will be chosen in the US as they have been in Sweden. Direct regulation also has a part to play in encouraging renewable energy investment. Sustainable capitalism is Gore’s model.

The difficult political decisions needed in combating the climate crisis have been exacerbated by the cloud of confusion generated by a massive political campaign of international deception on the part of many corporate carbon polluters. Gore is unsparing in his exposure of the organized denial movement “aimed at actively misleading the public about what science actually tells us concerning the nature and severity of the climate crisis”.

Based on the same tactics as those employed decades ago by the tobacco companies, large companies joined forces in order to systematically create doubt and confusion about the scientific consensus. “Reposition global warming as theory rather than fact”  are the words from an internal fossil fuel memo that he highlights.

The cynical and well-funded campaign, aided by the news media abandonment of one of their traditional roles of refereeing important arguments in the public domain, has succeeded in frustrating and delaying the world’s efforts to reduce deadly pollution. The companies concerned have meanwhile continued to make record profits.

Gore doesn’t leave his subject without a plug for information technologies and the new possibilities and new tools they provide for solving the climate crisis.  His survey of some of them is an example of the buoyant yet realistic optimism which underlies the book. “We can solve the climate crisis. It will be hard, to be sure, but if we can make the choice to solve it, I have no doubt whatsoever that we can and will succeed.”

As he did with the science in An Inconvenient Truth Gore in this book has done a sterling job in bringing to the public a coherent account of the technologies available to take us away from the path of disaster. Obviously a patient learner and gatherer of information from authoritative sources, he’s also a gifted communicator of what he finds. His background makes him also highly aware of the political and economic dimension in which these solutions must be applied.

The book is not only written with intelligence and flair but also contains a great collection of apposite pictures and some commissioned illustrations which aid reader understanding enormously. Its presentation is as attractive as its content. I hope it proves highly influential in informing public resolve to adopt the obvious solutions to the dangers which threaten us.

Article by Bryan Walker appearing courtesy of Celsias; originally posted on Hot Topic

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Al Gore, who barely lost (or won) the US Presidential election in November 2000, and vowed never to return to US political life, appears to have come out a winner for not doing so. The former Vice President for 8 years under the Clinton Administration decided to devote his time afterwards to teaching as well as making the world aware of the dangers of global warming, a warning that has been noted several times on Green Prophet, including a more recent article tying global warming and climate change with what is happening in the Middle East.

Gore’s efforts to make the inhabitants of our planet more aware of what fossil fuels and other man-made polluters are causing must have rubbed off on some people, as it has resulted in Gore being honored and awarded a number of acclaims and prizes, including an Academy Award in February, 2007, from the Hollywood film industry for his documentary film: An Inconvenient Truth, that paints a sobering a graphic picture of what is happening to this planet thanks to its human inhabitants.

This honor was followed a few months later with Gore and the UN sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , jointly winning the 2007  Nobel Peace Prize. Gore was also honored in Israel less than a year later, in July 2008, with an award from the Dan David Foundation for alerting the world to the dangers of overuse of fossil fuels.

So as it has worked out, it appears that the best thing that has happened to the former Vice President was actually losing the Presidency; for had he become the 43^rd US President, it’s most likely that Gore would not have become so involved with his environmental crusades as he simply would have been too busy dealing with the aftermath of the “9-11 terror attacks” which would have taken place during his “watch”.

Since the filming and release of his documentary movie, and being awarded the Nobel Prize, a lot of money has come Al Gore’s way, with a great deal of it going to a foundation he set up, known as the Alliance for Climate Protection , founded in 2006, and today has more than 5 million members worldwide. The New York Times says that his green stocks are up and Gore’s made a killing from clean tech investments.

Beyond investment interests, his foundation works with a number of affiliate organizations to find solutions to the problems of climate change and global warming in ways that “diversifies and strengthens the global network of concerned individuals who want to take action now on climate issues”.

Just who is against Mr. Gore and what he is trying to do to save the planet? A lot of  business interests and organizations, for one, who are connected to the fossil fuel industries (oil companies in particular), and who have hired a large group to research scientists to try to disprove Gore’s theories that it is petroleum, coal, and other fossil fuels (including natural gas, by the way) that many say are greatly responsible for the present state of the world’s environment.

For Gore’s part, these allegations of his profiteering from his environmental crusades haven’t affected him that much, since he considers the matter of global warming “not as a political issue but as a moral, ethical, and spiritual one”.

Gore himself is a religious man, belonging to the Southern Baptist Church. He was presented with the Baptist of the Year Award in January 2008, for his efforts on behalf of the environment.

Mr. Gore may never have gotten to occupy the Oval Office (except during a skit he was involved in for an episode of Saturday Night Live); but it now appears that he wound up being a bigger winner by losing the Presidency. And taking everything that has happened to him into account since the events of November/December 2000, he has come out much better than that “other guy” who did sit there for 8 years, critics et al.

What do you think? Should Gore profit from the environment?

Article by Maurice Picow appearing courtesy of Green Prophet

[photo credit: via Baptist Press]

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Renewable energy and energy efficiency are key to solving crises in the economy, climate and security, said Al Gore on Friday (videos below).

The former vice president lauded fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Barack Obama for efforts including an economic stimulus package with a significant renewable energy component.

“One way or another the reductions in emissions are about to accelerate,” said Gore at the conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Madison, Wis. “What is important, directly or indirectly, is that we put a price on carbon.”

He expressed hope that the U.S. Senate will pass a  bill similar to that of the House, even in advance of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. “There is much more bipartisan dialogue behind the scenes than is publicly visible,” he added.

Gore warned that failure to pass a strong international treaty at Copenhagen would be “catastrophic.”

Check out the footage below for more of Gore’s thoughts about how technology and business leaders can innovate and accelerate the adoption of a clean energy economy.

[photo and video credit: Elsa Wenzel]

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Water technology, solar innovation, Israel’s electric cars: I’d originally written this story for ISRAEL21c a few months ago when we were planning on launching its new Environment channel. The new channel was finally up this week. Consider it a good starting point if you’d like to know more about Israeli technology and investment opportunities and what the future may hold:

When green evangelist Al Gore visited Israel last year (and Green Prophet was there) he gave a clear message. “The people of Israel can lead the way to renewable energy,” he told audiences. With its unique geographical position, and clean tech know how, he announced, Israel is a natural leader in the field.

It’s a view that is echoed by many. Ian Thomson, the Californian co-founder of CleanTechies, a web site launched for clean technology professionals, agrees.

“Israel has a natural incentive towards clean tech because of its political and natural geography,” he tells ISRAEL21c. The innovations that “make natural sense in Israel, are often good for the rest of the world.”

“Israeli innovators have proven themselves in high -tech, communications, Internet, biotech, medical devices and more,” says Mike Granoff, a general partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures, and the head of oil independence policies at electric car company Better Place.

“The same drive, talent and creativity will serve them well in the next great business frontier, technologies around sustainability,” he says.

The field of clean technology emerged about 10 years ago. It’s a natural space for Israelis, who for more than 60 years have been looking for ways to grow crops on barren wasteland, to re-use scarce water resources creatively, and to lower their reliance on oil from enemy states.

Israeli entrepreneurs were quick to move in, creating new start ups in solar power, bio fuels and clean water, using experience they had already gained over the years.

Investors from around the globe flocked to Israel, and today the country has a number of world leading companies in a range of fields – from geothermal energy provider Ormat, to drip irrigation leader Netafim, solar energy company Brightsource, electric car company Better Place, and Shari Arison’s new Miya consortium for water.

Piping hot water technologies

One of Israel’s largest areas of expertise is in the field of water – particularly drip irrigation, water reuse, recycling, reclamation technology, water security and monitoring.

Today there are about 250 companies working in the water sector in Israel, of which 50 are designated as start ups. In 2008, Israeli water tech exports totalled $1.4 billion, an amount that has doubled since 2005.

The United Nations, which rarely bestows praise on Israel, named it the world’s most efficient recycled water user in a United Nations report issued on March 22, World Water Day.

Ronit Golovaty, an executive from the Department of Water and Environment Technologies inside Israel’s Export and International Cooperation Institute, knows Israel’s water technology market intimately.

Foreign governments and investors frequently approach Israel looking for help with new water technologies to combat shortages and water security, and it’s her job to help. While she’s happy to recommend best-fit technologies, she is not just pushing sales in Israeli companies, but is charged to be a solutions provider. Without regulations in place, it’s hard for countries to adopt new water technologies, she says, suggesting that local or national government be part of any talks, if people are interested in Israeli water technology.

The Oxford graduate boasts that Israel is well equipped to tackle a number of water problems, from water recycling, to wastewater use, irrigation and desalination.

Reducing water consumption in the US

She firmly believes that drip irrigation is something that the US could find extremely beneficial. Today in the US, farmers get their water at highly subsidized rates, or even for free, and therefore have no incentive to reduce consumption.

Water is equated with energy, and if regulation was in place to cut water costs, Israel’s Netafim or Plastro – another Israeli leader in the field – could offer America huge cost savings felt immediately, says Golovaty, pointing to a couple of simple Israeli government-regulated models that resulted in major water savings.

“For domestic use in Israel, every home-owner has to install a double-flush toilet, and every consumer has to have a meter on their apartment,” she says. Having a measure of water use is important for people to understand how to start saving it, she adds.

“In Israel we re-use 75% of our wastewater. This is the largest percentage in the world. And it meets about 50% of our irrigation needs,” she explains.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has set up two new projects to commercialize Israeli clean technologies: Israel NEWTech, a unit focused on water and energy and headed by Ofer Distel, and a sister project focused on Israeli alternative energy, run by Sigal Admony-Ravid.

For starters, according to Israel NEWTech, the Ashkelon SWRO (seawater reverse osmosis) desalination plant is the largest and most effective kind in the world.

It’s true, Israel does have some exceptional clean technology innovators, agrees David Miron-Wapner, the son of the reality show icon Judge Wapner from the People’s Court.

Manning the US desk at the Israel Center for Industrial Research and Development, Miron-Wapner works directly with Israel’s Chief Scientist Eli Oper to carry out international business and R&D activities between Israel and the US.

From drip irrigation to biofuel

One company in the field of water that he believes is tremendously successful is drip irrigation company Netafim – which saw revenues of $600 million in 2008, an annual growth rate of about 25 percent.

Netafim, which employs 2,400 people in 110 countries around the world, is undoubtedly one of the oldest and biggest names in this sector. Founded in 1965, the company has been operating and supplying solutions to customers in the US, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia for decades.

Netafim’s success stems from the low-tech drip irrigation solution that it pioneered in agriculture. It is now, however, moving rapidly into the field of bio fuel production. The company recently announced bio fuel projects in Peru, demonstrating that traditional businesses from Israel can be brought up to speed for modern needs.

“Peru benefits from several advantages: moderate climate, suitable soil and adequate water resources, which will enable it to play a leading role in the future in the bio-energy market,” explains Ofer Bloch, the CEO of Netafim at the time of writing this article.

“Netafim is the only company that can offer vast agronomical knowledge and smart water solutions for growing sugar cane for the production of ethanol,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “Developing alternative energy sources – such as ethanol – will reduce the dependency of the world on fossil fuel.”

Other successful companies in the water field, according to Miron-Wapner, include WhiteWater, which he says is “successfully blending Israeli expertise that will reach the market”; water technologies incubator Kinrot; Aqwise, a sewage treatment solution; and water consortium Miya, which has input from water expert Booky Oren.

“Oren is doing a tremendous job to promote Israel’s water sector, to pursue a real, large-scale water enterprise,” says Miron-Wapner.

Making sense of the sun

Aside from water, Miron-Wapner also believes that Israel is a leader in the field of solar energy. Aside from BrightSource Energy (formerly Luz), which has signed deals to build solar energy farms in California and Nevada, other Israeli solar energy leaders include Solel, ZenithSolar and AORA (formerly EDIG).

“It looks like BrightSource is moving forward very well in terms of its testing field in Dimona, and it’s ready to fulfil its contract in California,” Miron-Wapner tells ISRAEL21c. Everything points to Solel doing well also, he says. “Both look like they will be successful as more solar projects come on line,” he adds.

DiSP, based on the technology of Prof. Abraham Kribus from Tel Aviv University, has promise for industrial rooftops, says Miron-Wapner, and he sees David Faiman’s technology, from Ben Gurion University, now being commercialized by ZenithSolar “as potentially among the best and most efficient. The question is whether or not it can be brought to a commercial scale.”

When it comes to solar energy solutions in the real world, being the most innovative isn’t always key. The Israeli companies Ormat (ORO), Solel, and BrightSource have demonstrated this says Miron-Wapner. “So many other factors come into play among which are regulatory and finance issues,” he says.

Jack Levy, a general partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures already holds some of Israel’s most unique clean technology companies in his portfolio. Given Israel’s phenomenal success in the information technologies business, he predicts that over time more Israeli companies will start transferring their high-tech smarts to the field of clean-tech.

His firm, the first VC to focus on Israeli clean technology companies, has currently invested in Aqwise, Better Place, and the energy savings company Metrolight, to name a few. “We’re looking for breakthrough technologies. For rapid growth,” says Levy, explaining that clean technology is not an industry, but a sector and a brand.

“It’s a brand from an investor’s perspective and can incorporate drivers of rapid growth across multiple industries. What’s driving the alternative energy market to grow is not dissimilar as to what’s causing water to grow,” he tells ISRAEL21c, connecting the dots between water and energy, two of Israel’s strengths.

Israel clean technology is here to stay

If Israel excels in water and alternative energies, Better Place also has to take a prize. It’s probably one of Israel’s best known environmental companies – certainly the hottest in the international press.

Founded in October 2007 by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, who has become a global celebrity in the process, the company is developing the infrastructure necessary to make electric cars a feasible reality.

Israel was the first country to sign up with Better Place, and the first blahs are already going up in Haifa. Since then, Denmark, the bay area of San Francisco, Canada, Australia and Hawaii have also signed up for the scheme.

What is notable here is that despite the current world economic crisis, when companies are crashing like bowling pins, Better Place and virtually all of Israel’s other clean-tech companies are not only surviving, but thriving.

Israeli clean-tech companies may not be hiring right now, but they aren’t firing either, showing greater resilience to the recession. A recent survey by online job placement company JobInfo, found that employees in clean tech are suffering less from pay cuts and lay offs than their high-tech counterparts.

Experts predict that clean-tech could well become the country’s biggest export market.

“Even in the midst of the [financial] crisis, Better Place Denmark was able to launch, raising more than $100 million,” admits Granoff. “Even with the price of oil, there is going to be a lot of volatility with anything associated with energy, and not for a short period of time. This volatility creates new opportunities.”

Levy agrees. With or without a recession in Israel, the US, or the rest of the world, rapid urbanization and a supply-demand imbalance are going to keep the clean-tech industry growing.

“Lights are always going to get turned on, water is going to get drunk,” says Levy. Expert in picking solutions that will impact energy and water needs for today and tomorrow, Levy concludes, “I can’t imagine a different sector to be playing in right now.”

This story originally appeared on ISRAEL21c, via Green Prophet.

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Update: James Hansen just got arrested while protesting against coal mining – read latest news here

The New Yorker has a lengthy profile of NASA climatologist James Hansen in this week’s issue, in which he pulls no punches on Waxman-Markey, taking the leading national environmental advocacy groups to task for supporting the legislation (even as amended), and calls the whole process “stupidity.”

As readers of CleanTechies know, I have been dismissive of Waxman-Markey in recent weeks, a piece of well-intentioned legislation that has been so watered down by compromise and competing political pressure as to be rendered meaningless as anything other than a symbol of our intention as a nation to someday act on climate change, grid conversion, and carbon control.

After getting an email from Repower America a couple nights ago, inviting me to join a conference call with Al Gore to help push the bill through, I began to feel a little like a lone voice in the wilderness on this. But, I can’t ask for much better company than Hansen.

The ONLY hope that remains for Waxman-Markey is that someone on the hill sees the potential that the bill – and the political climate – retains for real progress on energy efficiency, demand-side management and demand response programming .

That is the only area that remains as a potential Trojan Horse for real reform in the current bill. Otherwise, Waxman-Markey is a step back for many states.

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The internecine battles in the green community are growing in number: there’s pro-renewable versus open space; the anti-hydro crowd; and the nukes or no nukes debate. Add the fight over clean coal, which the Boston Globe editorial staff weighed in on yesterday.

We know from his comments earlier this year that Al Gore essentially sees clean coal as a shell game, and he is being borne out at least in part by the larding of Waxman-Markey with billions to placate coal state legislators.

But, the Globe editorial touches on an interesting geopolitical/economics quandary. The US and Europe may be pushing toward carbon reduction reforms; but, it is the largest and fastest growing emitters in Asia that pose the greatest threat to the planet and are projected to negate even the most ambitious Western reduction estimates.

So, clean carbon technology might be the liar’s lie that Gore claims it is for US energy production, but what about the possibility of developing technology to export? Do we have an obligation to invest in clean coal research for the greater good even if its not in our future?

And, if we do, who should make the investment? The technology that emerges is likely to be immensely valuable, but it also promises to be the kind of technology over which any attempt at proprietary control would be difficult to assert on all fronts: technological, moral, and legal. All of that makes it unlikely that American companies will invest much in the effort.

Which would seem to leave any effort to our newest class of venture investor — the American taxpayer. Joe Six Pack is already going to be heavily invested in emerging renewable technologies, so the extension is not much of a reach.

But, with the banks, the auto companies, and all the other cash that Uncle Sam has already committed, is clean coal investment to give away to developing countries really a good allocation of tax resources?

There is a lot of debate in the climate change movement about the obligations that the Western world now has to emerging economies (the “you had your turn, and now its our time to pollute, so don’t lecture us” line of reasoning). Maybe clean coal is the time to turn this on its head? Let’s tell the Chinese and Indians to take all of their emerging technological might, their strong engineering technocracy, and their CO2-laced revenues and apply it all to find a marketable gasification technology and send it along when you’ve got the killer app.

For the first time in this new global economy, we’ll see what its like when the innovation product life cycle door swings the other way, with the capital investment and technological innovation happening there and the benefits accruing here.

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